Bound
by Jadare
Summary: Freedom... So careless, yet so vital. Bound to Naraku, Kagome must now seek out to destroy him to regain her freedom, but how? Inuyasha and his group no longer need her, time is running out, and all that's left is the cat-demon poison invading her blood.
1. Chapter 1

… _Pant, pant, pant…_

…_.._ _Blood…so much blood…_

"_I love her! I choose her!" _

_His voice cracked. Pained eyes stared at him. Her body was torn to shreds one sharp handful of claws was buried deep within her center._

"_I-Inuyasha?" She whimpered. _

"_Stop! Please!" He begged… like the pathetic little DOG he was._

_She merely stood… faithful… trusting… she always had trusted him._

_"N-No" He began to yell again at the enemy forcing him to abuse the woman before him._

"_I-Inuyasha?" She questioned, her bloodied face still filled with something remarkable. Hope._

"_Kagome" He fell to his knees before her, his claws slipping from her wound in her stomach. "I love you… I choose you! I swear! I'm so sorry!"_

_A short gasp…_

_**Her**__ gasp…_

_Blood… Kagome's blood._

_Pools of her blood ran down his arm as his demonic eyes reverted back to shocked amber. _

"Inuyasha… stop."

_Her voice…so sad… so betrayed…_

"_I'm sorry…" Her bright blue eyes began to fade away as her knees buckled and she collapsed to the ground, "I-I know… y-you don't… love me… as much as her… I'm sorry."_

"_No! Don't you dare apologize! I-It's me! It's my fault… K-Kagome!" Inuyasha cried… he remembered the tears as they fell from his eyes and onto her dying face as he scooped up her dying form._

"_I love you." She whispered sadly as she smiled lightly, "Even if… you don't f-feel the same… I l-love you…"_

"_Kagome!" He clutched to her, striving to keep her here… to have her remain his._

"Inuyasha, wake up."

_Her cold hands shook as they slowly made their way around his neck…_

_A weight was lifted…_

_She had traded her freedom for his…_

_No… _

_He had taken it from her…_

_He was free._

_And she was now bound… to that fuckin piece of sh-_

"_I-Inuyasha…" She struggled to her the words out… " S-sit."_

_Her last free words… her last free smile…_

_The beads that bound him to her fell in a puddle of her blood._

"_**KAGOME!" **_He instantly began to shoot up in a shock.

"Inuyasha. Inuyasha, wake up!"

Hands clamped around his shoulders… cold, thin hands… familiar, yet vaguely strange.

Her face…

"K-Kagome?" His vision slowly came to him as he saw dead brown eyes.

Yet… not…

"No, Inuyasha." Pain immediately dripped all over the woman coaxing him away from his nightmares.

She was strong… with good posture and an intelligent wit… but she was not her… not Kagome.

"I-I…" Inuyasha fumbled, "Kikyou."

Kikyou was much like Kagome in a way… same build, same facial features, same initial soul… but yet… she was so so different… she was just like Kagome, yet nothing like her all at the same time. Just a reincarnation should be.

Kikyou lacked Kagome's care-free nature, her smile, her laugh… she lacked all the traits that made Kagome who she was.

As Kagome lacked the regal, powerful attitude and stature that Kikyou simply radiated.

Inuyasha admired both girls for their own strengths… and Inuyasha loved them both very much…

But whom had he loved more?

Who did he choose first and who second?

He stared at the woman before him… strong, yet pained… simple, yet mystic…

His vibrant eyes bore into her dull brown eyes… those he desperately wished where those blue pools that engulfed his very being.

He loved Kikyou, true… but he was disheartened at the fact it was Kikyou sitting next to him, waking him from his nightmare. And not-

"She's gone Inuyasha…" Kikyou looked down sadly.

Kagome… he truly loved her more.

Inuyasha stood suddenly, taking note of the two humans and kit lying on the opposite side of Kaede's hut…

Sango face crinkled in slight pain as she muttered incoherent words…

Miroku's brow creased lightly…

But Shippo…

He cried and whimpered…

"Ka-Kagome… no… Inuyasha stop… please…" Shippo moved as if running in his sleep, "P-please…"

She was on all their minds, haunting all of their dreams and thoughts.

"I'm going out," Inuyasha muttered to Kikyou as he stood.

"Where?" Kikyou asked softly… monotone as ever.

Inuyasha's voice was low, quieted and nice, "I just need to get out of here for a bit. It's stifling."

Kikyou nodded once and added, "Please be back before dawn."

"Feh." Inuyasha didn't bother arguing, as he made his way out of the hut.

He rarely said anything to them, and he hardly snapped anymore. It was so much more different when Kikyou had died the second time. He lost her to Naraku's newest form at the time, but her soul was truly gone… Kikyou was allowed to move on… She was able to be free in her own way, then.

"_The one you choose as second, Inuyasha, is mine!"_

Inuyasha snorted at Naraku's words, as he broke into a sprint toward the forest.

But Kagome… she hadn't been so fortunate. She died, due to him, and then was forced to follow Naraku; cater, fight, obey, hurt… whatever he wanted from her, she was forced to give.

"It's my fault she's a prisoner…" Inuyasha mumbled stopping suddenly.

_Kagome's smile…_

_Belonged to Naraku._

_Kagome's freedom…_

_Also Naraku's._

_Kagome's soul…_

_Naraku's._

_Kagome's priceless laugh…_

"**Naraku**!" Inuyasha suddenly screamed at the top of his lungs, "**DAMN YOU**!"


	2. Chapter 2

Vast trees spread across the area below, the rising sun lit up the dark night sky with its diamond glitter of stars, and the happy twittering sounds of the spring birds waking to the new day echoed through the air.

She used to love the sunrise. She used to be so much a part of it and its refreshing feel.

But now...

The dark figure, clad in a black leather jumpsuit for fighting, turned her back to the scene and stared her master square in the eye. Her master was a dark man, evil in his wholeness. Dressed in a white baboon skin his long flowing hair covered his sickly pale face.

"Kagome."

Ooh, how she loathed him. Never before had she ever hated with so much intensity as she did for this man.

Bowing down to one knee, she lowered her head and stared at the ground, "Yes, Master?"

Behind her, she could feel Kagura, a relatively normal looking woman, and Kanna, a pale, albino-like child, staring holes into her back. She could literally feel the joy radiating off of them. They loved having yet another thing in common with the once free follower of the band that she now must stalk. _**His **_gang...

"They are on the move," Naraku, her master, stated bluntly, "They are on their way to the Spring. Can I trust you to keep an eye on them and extract as much of their Jewel shards, I trust?"

"Keh-" Kagome dipped her head lower. Since when had she developed _**his **_vocabulary? Since when had she ever wanted to? _**He **_chose this for her; _**he **_made his own decision... why?

"Pardon?" Naraku queried at her remark, the smirk practically echoing through his voice.

"Yes, Master." Kagome answered softly.

"Of course, I can trust you," Naraku smiled, as he slid merely two inches in front of her.

Kagome flinched as Naraku reached down and grabbed her chin gently. Her vibrant blue eyes met his cold, dead, black ones and for a moment she shuddered with harsh realization that this was her present, her future, and the haunting of her past. Those cold, dead eyes...

"You belong to me, now. Always and forever," Naraku continued, "No one else wanted you, but me. You're mine. My little pet."

Kagome fumed inside, "Yes, Master."

"Now go watch the dog for me," Naraku let her go and turned away, "I expect a report back from you in two full moons, Kagome. With some form of the remnants of the Shikon Jewel."

"Yes, Master," The ground was the only thing keeping her stable... keeping her grounded, keeping her from pouncing effortlessly and attacking with as much strength as she could before he tortured her with no remorse for her insubordination. Staring at the ground she memorized the grains of sand, the marks of his retreating footsteps, Naraku was going into hiding soon... for two months he'd be asleep. For two months, she'd be his first line of defense against _**him**_.

"Kanna, follow me," Naraku sighed before turning back to watched the little ghost girl slip quietly past Kagome's bent form and take his side, "Kagura, back Kagome up if she may need it. Understand?"

"Yeah," Kagura took to Kagome's side.

Kagome took two deep breaths before standing completely. He was gone.

"You're so pathetic, you know that?" Kagura chuckled before taking out a feather. Her bare feet rustling the ground Kagome had relied on to keep her sane.

"Yup," Something twitched annoyingly behind her, as black velvet triangles on her head swivled for sounds on the wind.

"You know where to find me," Kagura took off with so much force, dust sprung up all around the half-demon woman that was once a normal teenage girl.

Kagome sighed as she stared over the cliff, black ears swiveled back and forth. _**His **_gang was close. Her tail swished in anticipation behind her. Her claws itched as she retracted them from where her once dull normal nails were. Taking a deep breath to inhale the scent on the breeze, her blue cat eyes widen as she caught on to the scent... _**his **_scent.

Pouncing off the cliff with feline grace, she soared through the air with ease. Air swished past her pale face, her hair formed a cape behind her as she sailed in mid-air, and the ground below getting closer and closer to her. In one swift motion, she somersaulted in the air and landed on a strong branch of one of the trees she had just been admiring from up above. Those same pesky, happy, chatting birds now squawked in surprise of her presence and scattered.

Flipping off the branch silently, she landed on the ground in a crouch.

"Inuyasha," Kagome muttered softly, before bouncing off and taking refuge behind a small bush.

Waiting was never as hard for her before. Then again, everything had changed so fast for her. Belonging to the one called Naraku, meant so much sacrifice, so much change, so much self-loathing, and personality reconstruction. Kagome literally strayed from pools of water. Her reflection scared her, her similarities of her former self were mere stabs in the wounds of her heart. Her differences, her "alterations" -that her master loved so much- were foreign skills that she suddenly was a pro at controlling. She was a hanyo, a half-demon like the one she loved so much. Her torture was to lose her purity, her miko abilities, and become the same as the very man that placed her in this position.

"I-Inuyasha," She whispered again, as she hugged herself. Her long black sleek tail curled around her form. Except that she was not half dog-demon, no. Half neko-demon... a cat. Chuckling sadly, she thought instantly of Buyo, her cat back home. Home...

How long has it been since she'd seen them? Since she'd changed beyond repair? Days? Months? Time never made sense in this form...

Suddenly, a howl echoed through the area, "**DAMN YOU**!"

Kagome's head snapped up, "Inuyasha?"

A branched launched its way down the path and a man clad in red stormed down the path. She knew this man... knew him extremely well. His vibrant amber eyes scanned the area as he stomped his way through the bushes and trees. His ears twitched, his hard expression on his face burned into her very soul. She loved this man; she memorized every feature all over again, instantly.

"Inuyasha," She said, eyes snapping shut with the realization that she said that a little loud.

His pounding footsteps stopped in an instant, "No..." Inhaling deeply, he sniffed the area. It sounded so familiar, so real... but the smell was so different. So, off... "Show yourself!"

Kagome gulped quietly, _Way to go, smart one. _Keeping her position hidden was easy. The bush had other animals covering her scent, and it was still dark enough to hide her from his piercing gaze... but the sun was raising fast, this game would not last long, and neither would their encounter. She had to work fast and use her brain on this one.

Gathering up herself she chuckled softly.

He heard, as she expected him to, and growled, "I said, show your-"

"I heard you perfectly the first time, Inuyasha," Kagome answered.

Inuyasha went over the possibilities in his head. It sounded so much like her, and there was no way that Kikyou could have made it here quicker than him without him noticing. He had rushed into this forest. "Ka-Ka-"

"You're so punctual now-a-days, Inuyasha," She chuckled sadly, "What? Cat got your tongue?"

"Who are you?" Inuyasha managed, talking to the trees, to the bushes, to the ground, anything and everything with that strange, wonderfully familiar scent tainted with a hint of feline aroma to it.

"You know," Kagome whispered, watching the sun come up... her escape had to be perfect, but how?

"How?"

"I'm bound, Inuyasha," She smiled lightly as she caught a small, innocent squirrel near her twitching tail.

It'd be very unprofessional and weird, but it would work.

"But not dead," She took a deep breath.

"Kagome," He instantly fixed his gaze to a nearby bush where the sound was the loudest and the scent the strongest, "Please tell me that's you."

"Why, Inuyasha," She closed her eyes and inhaled his smell one last time, "You no longer need me. Go home."

"I-" Inuyasha stopped, before gulping, "I do! I do need-"

SQUEEEEEEEELL!

Suddenly, a squirrel flung out of the bush and landed square on his face, clawing crazily to get off of the surprised half-demon and back on the forest floor where it belonged.

In that quick event, Kagome managed to put a large amount of distance between Inuyasha and herself. "Keep it casual and professional, dummy," She reprimanded herself before taking one last look over her shoulder.

These next two months were going to be hard.


End file.
